Improvement in hoop-skirt and bustle combined



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

ALEXANDER K. YOUNG`7 OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN HOOP-SKIRT AND BUSTLE COMBINED.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 81,319, dated August 18, 1868.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER K. YOUNG, of Boston, of the county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Hoop-Skirts; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a top view, and Fig. 2 a vertical section, of a hoop-skirt as provided with my invention.

In carrying out myinvention, I combine with a hoop-skirt, or arrange on the outside and upper part of it, a series of hoops to form a bustle, each of the hoops of the series being attached at its ends to one of the hoops of the skirt. The bustle-hoops I form of two hoops or sections, lapped on one another, and connected at one end of each to the other by a slide or clasp, which will admit the sections of the hoop to be moved, with reference to each other, so as to either increase or diminish the bow of the hip or projection of the bustle, as circumstances may require.

In the drawings, A denotes a hoop-skirt of ordinary form. B is the hoop-bustle, which extends from the waistband a., down and around theJ outside ofthe back of the skirt, about one-third of` its depth.

The said bustle is made of hoops b b b and connecting-bands c c c. Each of the said hoops b is composed of three separate sections or parts, d d d. At their outer ends two of these sections are united to one of the hoops e of the skirt. Moreover, they lap on one another, the inner end of each being connected to one of the other sections by means of a slide or clasp, j', fastened to the said end, and extending about the adjacent section. The sections go through pockets in the bands, in the same manner as the main hoops of the skirt are connected with their supportingbands.

.If desirable, the bustle-band may be made of elastic webbing, so as to readily contract and expand under the pressure of the hoops while the bustle is being either reduced or enlarged in size.

I am aware that a short hoop-skirt has been arranged within another or larger hoop-skirt, for the purpose of resting on the back and hips of the wearer and giving' support to an outer skirt. The difference between this and my skirt is, that in the latter the bustle is arranged on the outside of the main skirt, andY both at top and bottom is connected thereto, Y

and is made expansible. By this arrangement, easier access can be had to the bustle for the purpose of expanding or contracting it. It is supported by the -main hoop, and While in use its hoops do not rest on the hips and back of the wearer, nor does the main skirt do so except at its waistband.

The bustle directly supports the over-clothes, and has each of its hoops fastened at its ends to a hoop of the main skirt.

I, therefore, make no claim to the arrangement of a smaller hoop-skirt within a larger and longer one, for the purpose of supporting the large one and setting it out as a bustle, such being as shown in the Patent N o. 20,801, and granted to Austin Kelley, July 6, 1858.

I claim- 1. The arrangementof thehoop-bustleon the outside of the main skirt, and with the ends of the hoops of the bustle connected with the hoops of the skirt, as set forth.

2. The combination of an expansive hoopbustle, as described, with a hoop-skirt, it being arranged on the outside of and fixed to the hoops of the said skirt, substantially as set forth.

ALEX. K. YOUNG.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, SAMUEL N. PIPER. 

